Format: Object

Image Tags

Add

Show tags

no tags yet

Linked To

Collection

Recollections

Add

no stories yet

No rights reserved

CC0 enables scientists, educators, artists and other creators and owners of copyright- or database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and thereby place them as completely as possible in the public domain, so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law.

Tools

Full size thumbnail Fit to screen Fit to width Fit to height Rotate 90 degrees Zoom to 100%

Show Text / Transcription Show keyword hits Highlight keywords Download Add to My Collection Contact us about this Citation for this item

Toy Train

Details

ProvenanceThis toy train belonged to Ernst Urban, a Jewish Austrian Train belonging to Ernst Urban. Robin Urban believes this train was given to Ernst on his 10th birthday, the day the family left Vienna in March 1939.

This is part of the collection of objects and documents donated by Robin Urban relating to his family. He is fifth generation South Australian on his mother’s side. The Keal family have Irish Catholic ancestry. On Robin’s father’s side both grandparents, Friedrick and Regina Urban, were medical doctors from Vienna, Austria. The family were Jewish through Regina’s ancestry. When the Second World War broke out Frederick and Regina together with their 10 year old son, Ernest, and 5 year old daughter, Marianne, emigrated to Adelaide South Australia. Ernest later became a professor of medicine and then emigrated with his wife and three year old son, Robin, to the United States of America.

Ernst’s grandson, who donated the train and other family objects and documents to the Migration Museum, related the story of this train being given to Ernst on his 10th birthday, the day the family fled Vienna in March 1939. The train became a precious item to Ernst, as the family left most of their belongings behind when they left Vienna, concealing their sudden emigration from the authorities by appearing to leave on a short excursion.

Marklin is a German toy company founded in 1859, and is most well-known for its toy trains, which it first produced in the 1890s. It was one of the first companies to introduce a track gauge system with toy trains, allowing sets to be expanded and interchanged. The Urban train’s catalogue name was Fliegender Hamburger, the Hamburg Flyer, and it was modelled on Germany’s first fast diesel train, which entered service in 1933. The toy Flyer was produced between approximately 1934 and 1938.
SignificanceThis train is a well-provenanced object related to the Jewish experience of migration from Europe in the 1930s, and a well preserved example of tin toys from the period. It is also a poignant memento of childhood and family memory. It forms an important part of the Migration Museum’s small but significant collection of objects associated with the Urban family.DescriptionThis is a tin plate mechanical train of two adjoining coaches. 20 volt AC electric. TW 12970. Upper part of the carriages is painted in green, cream and brown paint. On the roof of the carriage is a price sticker with N.12970 56’- written in pencil. Train came in a stiff cardboard box with stapled ends. At one end is an original makers label and stitches, it is marked ‘20 volts’. Price written on box in pencil.Creator (organisation)MärklinDate of Creation1930sDate of UsageBetween 1st January 1930 and 31st December 1939MaterialTin
|Paint
|Cardboard
|Staples
DimensionType: a (depth=length)
Height: 87
Width: 65
Depth: 525
|Type: b (depth=length)
Height: 96
Width: 83
Depth: 555
|Type: c (depth=length)
Height: 35
Width: 87
Depth: 560
|Type: d
Height: 174
Width: 21
Depth: 14
Accession NumberHT 2009.1621 aOn DisplayMigration Museum

Connections

CollectionWhen We Were YoungFrom Many PlacesFrom Many Places

Image Credits

Image FilenameHT2009-1621a_CI5257.jpgCopyrightHistory Trust of South AustraliaLicenseCC-0PhotographerLuke Simon

Image Credits

Image FilenameHT2009-1621a_CI5258.jpgCopyrightHistory Trust of South AustraliaLicenseCC-0PhotographerLuke Simon

OCR Text Transcription Edit Edit +-Close